Current mechanisms of advertising on the Internet largely involve banner advertisements ("banner ads"). In this model, a graphic image containing text or images is rendered on a portion of a display while a user is viewing some other Internet-based content. An example of such an advertising model is shown in FIG. 1. This example illustrates how a banner ad 10 might be viewed by a user through an Internet browser (i.e., computer software configured to render hypertext markup language (HTML) and other code in human-readable form). Such a banner ad 10 might be rendered as part of the results from a search engine query. That is, while the search engine results are being displayed, a banner ad occupying some portion of the user's display area 12 is rendered as an advertisement for a sponsoring entity. This sponsoring entity, in some cases, could be related to the search engine results.
In general banner ads provide "impressions" to viewers. In this regard, they are similar to billboard advertisements displayed to passing motorists. Usually, advertisers pay a fixed amount to Internet site operators for the right to have their logo or banner ad displayed on the site. The pricing model is generally based on the number of "viewings" or "impressions" that the banner has, per day.
Usually, the goal of the advertiser sponsoring the banner ad is to entice the viewer to "click through" (i.e., to select the ad using a cursor control device) to the advertiser's Web site. Thus, the banner ad can be linked through a uniform resource locator (URL) to another site (usually the advertiser's site) on the Internet. By moving a mouse, pen or other selecting object over the banner ad and clicking on the advertisement, the viewer is routed to the associated Web site. This is referred to as a "click through" and results in the transfer of the viewer from the the original site at which the banner ad was displayed to the new site. With existing advertising models, advertisers often pay additional sums to the sponsor sites when viewers of the banner ads "click through" to the advertiser's site.
Unfortunately, and as is the case for impression advertisements on television and billboards, the "click through" rates for banner ads are quite low. Recent estimates suggest that the upper bounds for most banner ads is an approximately 2% "click through" rate. Thus, at an Internet site that may have as many as a million visitors per day, as few as 2000 of those visitors will actually click through on a given banner ad. This extremely low rate of conversion of "impression" to "click through" results in a very poor linkage between the banner ad and the ultimate product purchase that is often the desired goal.
Recently, a new form of advertising has found its way to the Internet. This new form of advertising makes use of a scavenger hunt model, but it should be recognized that existing implementations of this advertising form are not necessarily prior art to the present invention. One such scavenger hunt advertising site may be found at www.internettreasurehunt.com.
In this new advertising model, the hosting site (e.g., internettreasurehunt.com) sponsors a treasure or scavenger hunt in which participants are asked to provide answers to questions. The intent of the hosting site operators is to direct participants to advertiser Web sites in order to locate the answers to these questions. Presumably, after visiting the advertiser sites and gathering the information necessary to complete the answers, the participants will then return to the hosting site and submit their responses to the questions. At the end of the game, a winner is chosen and prizes (which were the original incentive to visit the advertiser sites) are awarded.
To better understand this advertising model, consider the illustrations shown in FIGS. 2A-2J. These illustrations are actual screen shots from the internettreasurehunt.com Web site, downloaded Apr. 23, 1999, and are provided in their entirety to help differentiate the scavenger hunt scheme envisioned by the owners of that site from the present scheme.
FIG. 2A illustrates the home page of internettreasurehunt.com. That is, the Web page first presented to visitors to the site. The Web page invites viewers to participate in the "Treasure Hunt" by first reading the rules of the game. These rules are set forth in the illustrations provided at FIGS. 2B and 2C. Most notably, the rules do not require a participant to actually visit any advertisers' sites, merely that participants correctly answer the questions set forth.
FIGS. 2D-2G are screen shots of the "entry form" used by internettreasurehunt.com. After soliciting some personal and contact information, the site operators provide the participant with a series of questions, each having a separate answer space. The entry form is thus arranged as a Web form having various entry fields for completion by a participant. Note, although several Figures are needed to display this Web form in its entirety, the form is displayed as a single Web page when viewed using a browser.
Notice that associated with each question is a link (usually in the form of a graphic link) to a sponsor/advertiser site at which the answer to the question may presumably be located. For example, in FIG. 2E, the first question seeks to determine a participant's favorite room at a certain inn and a link to a Web site describing that inn is provided immediately before the question. This is intended to prompt the participant to visit the inn owner's Web site to look for a favorite room. Upon completion of this task, the participant can answer the question posed.
Similar questions and advertiser/sponsor links exist for all advertisers participating in the Treasure Hunt game. By reviewing FIGS. 2E through 2G, one can see that a participant is presented with all of the questions for the game at the same time. Moreover, all of the sites at which the answers can be found are prominently displayed next to the questions. Upon answering the questions, a participant can submit his/her answers using the submission button at the bottom of the form.
The internettreasurehunt.com operators apparently believe that the scavenger hunt metaphor they have adopted will have viewers actually "search" ad advertiser's Web site. At least this belief is manifest on a "Sponsorship Opportunities" page of the site, as shown in FIGS. 2H-2J. Here, the site operators are apparently giving advertisers the chance to become sponsors by submitting their relevant contact and Web site information (again through the use of a Web form). Although it is possible that the scavenger hunt model may attract more viewers to an advertiser's site than would a banner ad, there are flaws in the approach adopted by the operators of internettreasurehunt.com.
For example, by listing all of the questions on a single page, the operators of internettreasurehunt.com run the risk that an unscrupulous participant will distribute these questions among several cohorts, with each being responsible for rounding up some of the answers. Then, each of these participants might share answers with one another (or even post the answers to newsgroup sites or elsewhere), thus defeating the intent of the site operators and advertisers that each participant individually visit each advertiser site. Indeed, nowhere does it appear that the operators of internettreasurehunt.com have given any consideration to this problem. No requirement that individuals actually visit the participating advertiser/sponsor sites is set forth and no means of checking whether such visiting actually occurs is indicated. As a result, potential advertisers are not guaranteed that game participants will actually visit their respective sites and the value of the advertising scheme to potential sponsors is therefore questionable.